The General Education Program
Students who graduate from Oakland University have demonstrated success in two programs of study: their major degree program and OU’s innovative general education program. The major program prepares students for professional success through a study of the knowledge and “hard skills” associated with their chosen careers or disciplines. The general education program provides students with the diverse learning experiences necessary to develop the breadth of knowledge and “soft skills” valued by employers and essential to our students’ successful engagement as citizens and as members of their local, global and professional communities.
While the general education program at Oakland University focuses on transferable “soft skills” and abilities, our wide-range of course offerings demonstrate our faculty’s commitment to providing students a broad knowledge base and opportunities to enrich their current interests and cultivate new ones through individualized programs of general study.
Build Transferable Skills
The general education program at Oakland University is designed to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and critical capacities that serve as a foundation for meeting their academic, professional, civic, and personal goals and responsibilities. The core skills of critical thinking, effective communication, information literacy, and social awareness shape each of the courses offered in our general education program. Because they are essential to our students’ educational success, these core skills are recognized as University Learning Outcomes (ULOs).
Through their general education classes, Oakland University students
- develop into CRITICAL THINKERS capable of comprehensively exploring issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion;
- become EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS who analyze rhetorical situations, adapt their discourse to diverse genres and media, treat their sources and source material ethically, and meet the expectations of a variety of discourse communities in the academy and beyond;
- build an integrated set of abilities that allow them to be INFORMATION LITERATE citizens who reflectively discover information, understand how that information is produced and valued, and use information ethically to create new knowledge and participate as lifelong learners in society; and
- become generous, SOCIALLY AWARE, citizens who demonstrate their intercultural competence and consider the ethical implications of their words, actions, and engagement with or indifference to other communities.
Create Your Own Program of Study
OU’s general education program permits students to design their own program of study, choosing from an impressive array of course offerings. Students may choose approved general education courses that complement their major or minor area of study or choose approved courses that will take them out of their academic comfort zones, encouraging them to explore, develop, create, and engage with a variety of new ideas, methods, and skills. For example, to fulfill the Writing Intensive in General Education requirement, students may choose from more than seventy-five approved courses across the university, including writing intensive classes in art, biology, economics, communication, technical writing, environmental science, exercise science, education, business, journalism, philosophy, psychology, political science, religion, and theatre. Courses in the Global Perspective area include everything from Masterpieces of World Cinema to Principles of Global Macroeconomics, from Issues in Global Health to Exploring African Music. To fulfill the Natural Science and Technology area, students may choose from a range of courses, including Life on Earth, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Environmental Science, Language and the Brain, and the Physics of Everyday Life.
Students should meet regularly with their advisors to develop a plan of study that meets their interests, goals, and aspirations and satisfies the graduation requirements.
The program of study in general education at OU consists of courses in three areas: Foundation, Exploration, and Integration.
- Writing Foundations (WRT 1060 - Composition II ) and Formal Reasoning constitute the FOUNDATION area of General Education. These courses help students develop the processes, skills, and knowledge essential for success in their studies.
- Approved courses in the EXPLORATION area provide the fundamental abilities that a well-educated person should have, including a critical appreciation of the ways we gain and create knowledge and an understanding of the universe, of society, and of humankind. In their General Education studies at OU, students may choose from a variety of courses in the areas of the Arts, Language and Culture, Literature, Global Perspective, Natural Science and Technology, Social Science and Western Civilization.
- In their advanced years in the general education program, students are given an opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills they have already developed through Knowledge Applications and Capstone courses. The INTEGRATION area helps students synthesize what they have learned in both the general education program and in their major, to identify and make use of the connections among the various disciplines and to apply their knowledge to addressing real world problems. This integrated knowledge forms the basis for students’ lifelong learning, preparing them for successful careers and for productive personal and civic lives.
Oakland University’s general education program also helps students develop advanced writing skills and engages students in a study of U.S. Diversity.
- Through two WRITING INTENSIVE courses, students gain a depth in both general and discipline-specific writing skills. Writing Intensive in General Education and Writing Intensive in the Major courses may also satisfy other areas within the General Education program.
- Because Oakland University is committed to ensuring that students develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, the history, advantages and challenges of the diversity of the United States, the general education program offers a range of courses that fulfill the U.S. DIVERSITY area, including courses in art history, anthropology, cinema, communication, dance, economics, literature, history, music, nursing, political [LG1] science, theatre, and writing and rhetoric. U.S. diversity courses may also satisfy other areas within the general education program.
General Education Requirements
Each candidate for an Oakland University baccalaureate will need to satisfactorily complete approved courses in each of the following areas: Foundation, Exploration, Integration, Writing, and U.S. Diversity.
1. Two courses in the Foundation Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
Notes
For alternative ways of meeting the Writing Foundations requirement, see the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the catalog.
Students must earn at least a C in WRT 1060 to meet the Writing Foundations requirement.
Students must satisfactorily complete an approved Formal Reasoning course prior to their junior standing.
2. One course from each of the seven Exploration Areas
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following seven areas:
- Arts
- Language and Culture
- Global Perspective
- Literature
- Natural Science and Technology
- Social Science
- Western Civilization
Notes
Language and Culture courses do not satisfy the Global Perspective area.
Students may meet the Language and Culture requirement through the satisfactory completion of a course having a prerequisite of an 1140 language course, or an American Sign Language course having COM 1500 as a prerequisite. The course can not be used to satisfy any other general education area requirement.
The Foreign Language and Culture General Education area is waived for international students whose native language is not English and who have completed the equivalent of a high school diploma at a school that used a language other than English for instruction. Appropriate documentation attesting to the language of instruction and graduation from high school programs is necessary.
3. Two courses from the Integration Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
- Knowledge Applications
- Capstone
Notes
Knowledge Applications courses must be outside the rubric of the student’s major.
4. Two courses from the Writing Intensive Area
At least one course of at least three credits from the list of approved courses in each of the following areas:
- Writing Intensive in the Major
- Writing Intensive in General Education
Notes
Writing Intensive in the Major and Writing Intensive in General Education courses may also satisfy other areas within the general education program.
Writing Intensive requirements cannot be met with WRT 1050 or WRT 1060 .
Students must have earned a grade of C in the Writing Foundations course to enroll in a Writing Intensive course.
Students may substitute a second course from Writing Intensive in the Major to satisfy this requirement.
Students may not apply non-classroom experience (course competency, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and/or CLEP credits) to satisfy general education requirements for Writing Intensive courses.
5. One course of at least three credits from the U.S. Diversity Area
Note
U.S. Diversity may be fulfilled through courses that also satisfy the Exploration areas.
Notes
Students using this catalog to meet general education requirements may also use any course subsequently approved by the General Education Committee and published in a later catalog to satisfy requirements in a particular area. If a course listed below is removed from lists of approved courses in later catalogs, it may still be used to meet a general education requirement by students following the 2020-2021 catalog until the catalog expires (six years).
Transfer students should refer to the course catalog section, Transfer Student Information.
Some of the approved courses below may not be offered every semester. Students should check with their advisers to ensure that their preferred courses will be offered.
General Education Course Listing